Internal Communication

The CEO Is the Message on Trump and Charlottesville

August 16th, 2017 by

There probably isn’t a single American CEO who’s not quivering right now, wondering if he or she is going to have to make some kind of statement about President Trump’s strongly expressed conviction that both… Continued

How a Healthcare Brand Crafted a Multifaceted Plan to Re-Engage Staff After Radical Changes

August 8th, 2017 by

Internal communications is a pain point for brands and organizations large and small in normal times. When significant changes are occurring inside an organization it can make communications even more difficult. Ally Bunin, a VP for internal communications at Brighton Health Plan Solutions, explains how her brand communicated during a period of radical internal changes.

A Transit Authority Opens Its Playbook on Handling Employee Critics Online

August 8th, 2017 by

With all the good that comes from social media, there also are negatives. One is that employees can criticize their company online and make life even more anxious for communicators. The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) encountered such an instance a few months ago when it introduced random drug and alcohol testing of employees. An outcry went up in some quarters over this policy. Here’s how TTC handled the situation.

Google’s New Diversity VP Tested by Internal Controversy

August 7th, 2017 by

A long “manifesto” decrying efforts at addressing diversity has been making the rounds inside Google via internal message boards and social networks. The author, a male software engineer, argues that there are inherent differences between men and women that account for perceived gender gaps. Thus Google’s Danielle Brown, who took up the mantle of vice president of diversity, integrity & governance at the end of June, already finds herself in a delicate internal communications test.

For Southwest Airlines, Culture Determines Who Owns Social Media

August 7th, 2017 by

A few years ago, each of Southwest Airline’s departments used social media in their own way, independent of each other. But the firm quickly moved to create “an enterprise-level function with multiple players and dotted lines back to operational units, while still maintaining a master strategy,” according to Linda Rutherford, Southwest’s CCO. To her, the question of who should own social media centers around how an organization approaches customer engagement.

How Hershey Encourages Employees to Show Off Their Sweet Jobs

August 4th, 2017 by

Hershey is embracing employee advocacy programs as a way to pull back the curtain on life at the company, helping to improve recruitment, retention and reputation. The giant chocolatier has devoted an Instagram account (@HersheyCompany) to celebrate its employees, who in turn use the platform to celebrate the company. Here are some examples of successful posts, as well as four tips to keep in mind when crafting your own advocacy program.

The Epic List of PR’s Daily Challenges (And How to Overcome Them)

July 24th, 2017 by

Reality checked in with me recently when a few parents on my son’s rowing team, knowing my affiliation with PR News, asked me to write the press releases for the club. Sure, it’ll be easy,… Continued

Got an Extra $250k in Your PR Budget?

July 5th, 2017 by

When I ask my friends in PR what they’d do with a bigger budget, their first instinct is to smile that “yeah, right!” smile. It’s hard enough to keep the budget they have much less… Continued

How MillerCoors Uses Video for Internal Communications With Employees and Distributors

June 26th, 2017 by

In the upcoming Arthur W. Page Society New CCO podcast, MillerCoors CCO Pete Marino talks about the company’s internal video channel MCTV, among other topics. PR News was provided an advance copy. In an interview with us, Marino expands on MCTV as well as what keeps him up at nights.

4 Ways to Change the Paid, Owned and Earned Media Structure

June 15th, 2017 by

If the lines between paid, owned and earned media have become blurred, why is the internal structure at most organizations still so linear? In this commentary, Brooks Thomas, social business advisor with Southwest Airlines, argues for a more integrated approach and provides four tips for smaller organizations looking to bust down the silos between those three types of content.